Opposition of Previously Conceived Notions
by Sugar144
Summary: The survivors get rescued and returned to their families. Now what? What happens after? Will love blossom and friendships grow? Or will the realationships built on the island diminish? R
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer- I don't own flight 29 down or any of it characters_

I resign to a state of total lethargy. The great effort I was making to keep my eye lids from meeting is void. My shoulders slump and I make a comfortable cradle for my head on the cold, unwelcoming desk. My teacher drones on about plate tectonics or something along those lines but all I hear is a long slur of words. I get that wonderful light headed feeling before everything goes black and I no longer have to think.

"Eric!" A sharp voice yells, taking me from my precious sleep.

"Yes Mrs. Porter?" I ask innocently while adjusting to the harsh florescent lights. How she is a 'Mrs' is beyond me. It's difficult to imagine wanting to wake up to this everyday.

"Is it too much to ask that you not sleep in my class?" She screeches. Ugh, my ears.

"Not at all," I answer with spurious politeness. "Might help if you talked about something that wasn't so freakin' boring." I muttered to myself resentfully.

"Oh is that so?" Mrs. Porter says haughtily. Shit, she heard me. "Well maybe the principal could talk to you about something more attuned to your interests? How about you go down to the principal's office and find out."

"Ok," I grumble before rising from my seat and walking towards the door.

"Oh and Eric?" Mrs. Porter calls to me. I turn and see a pompous smile plastered on her face. "Don't fall asleep on the way." This elicits a low hum of laughter from the class.

Ha, wow, she should really take up stand up comedy. Not.

"Yeah, sure," I mutter submissively as I exit the classroom at last.

I leisurely stalk the halls walking past the office. I decide that if I have to go to the office, I'd rather prolong it as long as possible. Of course I could totally skip going to the office just to piss Mrs. Porter off but the last thing I want to do is get in more trouble. I'd gotten a decent amount of detentions lately and my mom was really coming down on me.

"Eric?" I turn around and see Melissa looking at me suspiciously. I realize that I had ended up in the arts corridor of the school.

"Hey." I say casually.

"What are you doing in the arts corridor? I didn't think you took any arts classes." The arts wing was sort of displaced from the rest of the school. There were no lockers and the only people who were in this part of the school were the ones who took art. I didn't.

"Oh no, I don't. I was just walking around and kind of ended up here."

"Oh. Do you have a spare?" She asks curiously.

"Naw. Mrs. Porter sent me to the office and I was just kind of delaying it."

"Oh I see." Melissa adds quietly. She shuffles her feet as we settle into an awkward silence.

"Well I should probably go now. To the office I mean." I say finally.

"Ok, see you." She says as she walks past me and into a classroom. I head in the opposite direction to the office.

I knew the conversation had to eventually happen and at least it wasn't that awkward. Ever since going back to school after the island Melissa and I hadn't talked. Although on the island we had survived together and she'd saved my life twice, it was not significant enough for us to become friends or anything. We were just two high school students who mindlessly passed each other in the hall. It's odd how things change so suddenly.

I come to the entrance to the office and brace myself. Hopefully Mrs. McCrea, the principal, wouldn't call my parents or something. Yet other horrid woman whose surname was accompanied by the proud prefix 'Mrs.'. I honestly felt bad for these husbands.

I entered the office and was immersed in the sweet smell of vanilla and lavender. The school secretary Mrs. Petch, or Linda as she'd told me to call her, had a fixation with scented candles and insisted on lighting them inside the office even though the school regularly told her it was a fire hazard.

"Hello Eric," Mrs. Petch/Linda welcomes me.

"Hello Mrs. Petch." I nod to her politely as I take my regular seat in the waiting room outside Mrs. McCrea's door.

"Oh please, call me Linda. You know that Eric." I did. I just preferred to call her Mrs. Petch. It felt awkward to call her Linda.

"Of course Linda," She smiles then picks up her phone and punches in some numbers.

"Hello Mrs. McCrea I've got Eric out here for you." She talks into the phone. She listens for a couple seconds then hangs up.

"She's ready for you Eric."

I stand up and walk towards her door. On it is a small plaque that reads 'Mrs. McCrea' and underneath it the subtitle states 'Principal'. It probably just makes her feel professional to have the plaque. Everyone one knew where her office was anyway.

I open the door and hear her cold voice. "Hello Eric."

"Mrs. McCrea." I say while taking a seat in front of her desk.

"Who sent you?" She asks me tiredly. My daily visits have begun to bore her.

"Mrs. Porter."

"What did you do Eric?" She asks following usual procedure.

"I fell asleep in her class."

"I see." She notes. "Perhaps after your detention today after school you could try taking a nap."

"That sounds like a smart idea." I nod. I'm eager to leave.

"Good then. Be at study hall at 3:15. You're free to go." She dismisses me. She turns back to her computer as I walk out of her office.

Mrs. McCrea had given up on trying to cease my recalcitrant behavior. A visit to her office was a quick punishment then a dismissal. I don't see why I was so eager to avoid it before. Maybe because I was afraid she'd get sick of my persistent trips to the office and get my mom involved.

I walked back to class resenting the moment I would have to face Mrs. Porter and her pretentious mannerisms. As the classroom came in view I cursed inwardly. I was defiantly not taking geography next year.

I walked in the door and the entire class looked up at me. It was silent and I assumed they were working on some superfluous torture forced on them just so they could fail. Mrs. Porter was evil like that.

"Ah, Eric, I see you finally made it back." Mrs. Porter says, acknowledging my presence. "Mrs. McCrea must have given you quite the talking to."

God I hate her. "Yeah, she did."

Just then sweet bliss blessed me with its presence. The bell sang, echoing through the halls. Everyone began to pack up. I shoved my binder into my bag and sprinted out the door.

Mmm… lunchtime.

**A/N: I know that chapter was kind of boring but I just wanted you to get a feel for the story. It'll get better, I promise. I think I'll change up the point of view between characters. So please review to encourage me to continue this story.**

**REVIEW!!!!!**


	2. Chapter 2

_Disclaimer- I don't own flight 29 or any of its characters_

I step out into the court yard and the sun blinds me. I raise my hand to shield my eyes as I walk over to my usual table. I see Nathan already at our table with Daley. Daley sees me and waves me over. I smile. I don't think she quite understands that Nathan and I have been sitting at this table since we were freshmen.

"Hey guys." I say while taking a seat across from the happy couple.

"Hey Mel," Nathan grins.

I take my salad and sandwich out of my lunch bag and dig in. I'm absolutely starving. Art class had taken a toll on me. Mrs. Chelan, my art teacher, was a perfectionist to say the least. Her persistent creative rigor had caused her dismiss my latest couple of artworks as 'amateur' and announced that I must start over once again. It was painful to disregard my most recent painting. I had to excuse myself to go to the bathroom to regain my sanity. Of course with my luck, I ran into Eric on the way. We hadn't talked since we got back to school. He was going to the principal's office, as per usual.

"Mel?" Daley questions removing me from my thoughts "Are you ok?"

"Yeah, why?" why was she asking me this?

"You haven't said anything in like, five minutes. You've just been pushing around your salad with your fork." Oh, that's why.

"Oh yeah, I was just thinking." I shrug

"About what?" she inquires.

"Well Mrs. Chelan has been really harsh on my art lately." I explain nonchalant.

"Don't worry about it Mel, she's always harsh. I heard she made Max Ward cry last year." Nathan offers.

"Really? The bulky football guy that graduated last year?" Daley asks suddenly interested in the new topic.

"Yup, cried like a baby." Nathan confirms.

"That and I talked to Eric." I spit out, for no particular reason.

Nathan and Daley shut up and stare at me. "What'd he say?"

"Um nothing really, just that he was wondering around avoiding to go to the principal's office." I say thoughtfully, trying to recall if that was all he said.

"Wow." Daley finally manages to choke out. "So he didn't mention… the incident?"

"Oh no, we stayed far away from that topic." I shrug it off. "It was really short anyway. The conversation lasted like, five seconds."

"Huh." Nathan says intelligently.

"Anyway," I say quickly. "I've got to go. I have tutoring."

"Alright, see you Mel." Daley says.

"Bye Mel." Nathan adds.

I walk across the courtyard again this time walking away from the sun's glare. Cold air rushes me as I step in the school and I bask in the cool quality of the school's air conditioning. I look down at my watch and notice the time. Damn, I was going to be late. I rush over to the library where the tutoring sessions take place. As soon as I enter the library, I walk over to the front desk where Ms. Klein, the school librarian resides. She was the one who set up the tutoring operation at Hartwell.

"Hi Ms. Klein," I say politely as I approach her desk.

"Oh Melissa, I'm glad you could make it." she smiles at me. "The student you're tutoring is just over there." She points to the back of a brunette boy wearing a black shirt facing the other direction.

"Thank you." I offer before walking over to the desk the boy is sitting at.

I take me seat and notice who I'm sitting across from. "Jackson."

He smiles at me. "Hey Mel, what's up?"

"I… um… nothing," I mange to choke out. Wow, smooth Mel.

"You always had a way with words." He grins and then takes out a textbook from his book bag. "I'm here because I need help with math."

"Which subject?" I say trying to regain my composure and hide my blush.

"Calculus." he groans.

I attempt to let out a light hearted laugh. "Let's get started then."

**A/N: I know it's a short chapter but I had slight writers block. I figured a short chapter would be better then nothing.**


	3. Chapter 3

_Disclaimer- wish I owned Flight 29 Down but I don't._

The various symbols and variants look like Japanese to me. I'd never been very good at math and this just finalizes it. I was absolutely hopeless, even with Mel's help. I smile and nod every once in a while to assure her I got it. She'd smile and go on explaining. It was pretty cute actually, her adorable little grin I'd missed go much and the laugh she'd let slip when I said something extremely stupid, which was a lot when it came to math.

"Thanks a lot Mel," I say well I pack up my books after the strenuous tutoring session.

"No problem, it was my pleasure. I hope you do well on that math quiz. You know at the end, I think you were really starting to get it," she smiles oblivious to my ever present plight pertaining to anything mathematical.

"Yeah, I think I get it now." I lie.

"Great. So I'll see you around?" She asks.

"Yeah, sure," I say dismissively then depart. I walk out of the library and down the hall.

When I finally round the corner to the hallway my locker's in, I see Taylor Hagan waiting there for me. I have no idea why though. Since we got back I hadn't really talked to any of the survivors really, except Lex in emails.

"Hey Taylor," I say while gingerly approaching my locker.

"Oh there you are! I've been waiting for you," she says as if it's not obvious that she's leaning against my locker.

"Yeah, I figured," I say curtly.

"Oh don't be all moody with me. I just wanted to know how you've been," she says casually.

"You waited by my locker to ask me how I've been?" I reiterate incredulously.

"Look, remember that day when we built that raft? And I asked you if we'd still be friends when we got back?" She questions.

"Yes."

"Well obviously we haven't been. None of us have! Except Daley and Nathan and Melissa, but not as a group like we were," she explains desperately.

"So?"

"So? So I want us to be friends again, all of us. I know it's hard because of what happened that last day and trust me, none of us will be forgetting that anytime soon, but maybe we could just all move on?" she asks hopefully.

"I don't know Taylor. I don't know if that's possible. We're all different people now." I say sadly.

"I know, I just thought maybe it'd be worth a try," she sighs and walks away.

I feel guilty for shooting her idea down so quickly but the prospect of us becoming all chummy again seems really far off. Ever since that fateful day none of us have really been able to connect the same way. Save for Melissa, Nathan and Daley I guess. Nathan and Melissa were always a pair though and Daley really had gotten quite close with Melissa as well as quite close romantically with Nathan. They still hadn't gotten together yet though- Nathan and Daley. I guess that day even affected them in their own way.

I take out my schedule and scan it to see what my next class is. Hm, a spare. Great. Maybe I'll go read under a tree in the courtyard.

'Beeeeeeep, Beeeeep,' my phone vibrates in my pocket. Note to self: change annoying ring tone.

"Hello?" I ask.

"Jackson, its Summer" a worried voice answers back.

"Oh, hey. Is everything ok?" I ask gingerly.

"No actually, I was wondering if you could come and pick me up." There goes my relaxing reading time.

"Sure I'll be there soon." I say as I hang up the phone. I grope around my pockets and find my keys.

I jog out to the student parking lot and get into my car. It's not exactly what you'd call a luxury vehicle but it's adequate for my needs plus it's got character. I put the keys and the ignition and the vehicle reeves up.

The drive to Summer's school is short and I spend the time wondering how she knew I had a spare. Maybe it was a coincidence. I also wonder what she's gotten herself into this time. She has the tendency to get her self into trouble and of course I'm the one now who gets her out of it. Most of the time.

I park in the parking lot at her school and beeline through the big heavy wooden front doors to the office. There she is: heavy eyeliner and all, twiddling her thumbs outside the principal's office.

She spots me and smiles. "Jackson! Oh thank god you're here."

"And who might you be young man?" a well kept middle age women asks as she strides into the room. She has an air of authority and I assume she's the principal.

"I'm Jackson, her brother."

"Oh, I see. Could your parents not make it down?" she looks at me quizzically.

"No, they couldn't." I answer coldy.

"And how old did you say you were?"

"I didn't. I'm seventeen."

"So then why aren't you at school?" She's interrogating me and I'm getting irritable. I'm here to get Summer out of this mess, not be lectured by some miserable menopausal woman.

"I have a spare. Look, can we please just get to the part where we deal with Summer?" I snap. Summer looks over at me nervously. She's afraid I'm going to blow any chance of her getting let off from this.

The women eyes me a while longer. "Alright then. Ms. Montgomery was found doing drugs on school property."

"Drugs?" I reiterate. I look at Summer. She's now looking anywhere but me.

"Marijuana, yes. A staff member caught her and brought her here. Now I must tell you, the repercussions of drug use on the school premise are quite severe. Ms. Montgomery is looking at a month long suspension or expulsion."

I stay quite to give myself a moment to think. I seriously don't know what Summer expects me to do here.

"Look Mrs…."

"Mrs. Avery," she fills in for me.

"Mrs. Avery," I reiterate. "This is totally uncharacteristic of Summer. She's told me many times how much she loves this school and I would hate to see one isolated act of rebellion deprive her of an education at this school that she so badly wants."

She stops to think. "I will have to confer with my colleagues but I must say expulsion doesn't seem to be the right option here."

I try to conceal my smile but I can't help but feel triumphant.

"I do think it best though that you take Ms. Montgomery home." She says then walks back out of the room.

Summer looks at me and smiles. "That was fucking brilliant."

"Thanks."

We stalk out to the car and my mind feels all jumbled. I don't know what her parents will think when they learn she's been suspended. I just started to like this foster family and I didn't want to fuck it up.

"I can't believe you actually pulled that off," she gushes as she gets into the passenger side of my car.

I shrug.

"Mrs. Avery was totally eating up all that shit you said about me loving school and shit. A plus for performance."

"Why'd you call me?" I ask.

"Why the hell not?" she smiles and rolls down the window. She takes a cigarette pack out of her purse and lights a cigarette. After a long drag she laughs. "You fucking rock at persuading people to do shit, you know?"

"Yeah, whatever." I say passively. I know I'm good but I try not to be. It makes things too easy to manipulate. "So what happened?"

"It was fucking annoying." She says with a crease now formed in between her eyebrows. I can tell she's pissed just thinking about it. "Cook and me were out in the back smoking a spliff and then he leaves to piss and of course Mr. Friest comes outside to see me sitting there with the spliff. So of course Cook gets off scot free."

"What do you think your parents will do?" I ask hoping she can't see I'm holding my breath. I really don't want to fuck this up.

"Well they won't be home till Thursday so I'll just make a good excuse by then. They'll live."

"Yeah, hopefully" I mutter under my breath. Most of the foster families I'd been with tried to blame me, marking me as a 'bad influence' and the reason their kids ever got in trouble. Hopefully this'd be different. I'm tired of being the scape goat.

"So where to?" Summer asks in between drags.

"I'm bringing you home and then I'm going back to school," I say in authoritative tone.

"Sweet deal." Summer says distractedly.

When we arrive back at her house I give her a warning about getting into anymore trouble then I leave to go back to school. Between driving everywhere and bargaining for Summer's rights, my spare ends as soon as I get to school.

**A/N: Finally updated. Yay! Well I hoped you enjoyed the chapter. And in case you were wondering, yes, Summer (Jackson's foster sister) will factor in to the storyline with the rest of the characters soon. That was basically her introductory chapter. So yeah, review away!**


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